Tiberius IV: The Storm Passes, part 2

Posted on Sun May 2nd, 2010 @ 12:36pm by Commodore Samantha York & Commander John Sheridan & Colonel Damon Raine & Lieutenant Kaj Mikkola

1,257 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: What Lies Beneath?
Location: Tiberius IV
Timeline: Current

ON

[OLD]

"Damnit." he mumbled to himself as he started running in the direction.

[NEW]

Sam heard his yell echo through her mind. She was halfway down the tunnel, almost to the cave opening created by the Marines. She turned as she heard Damon run towards here. ~I'm here.~ she assured him.

He was relieved that he had caught up with her in time to stop her from 'playing' with the local wildlife. "You remember what these things did with the firefly, right? And you want to take a closer look now?"

"I think they were attracted to the sound vibrations from the ship. If I stay to the rocks, it should be safe enough," she said with a warm smile. "I promise I won't go into the sand. If you'd rather, I'll stay inside the cave." She felt she'd pushed his patience enough for this trip. And, maybe if she could show him that it was perfectly safe he would be less concerned next time.

Damon thought about objecting to the idea for a moment before he really started to rationalize on it. He had admittedly been pretty hard on her in the last few hours. She was a scientist, understanding creatures like these was her passion and indeed the reason for her entire career choice. So long as she was relatively safe, he had no right to stop her from exploring. More to the point, he didn't want to be the kind of man that would stifle her passions just to make him happy, she deserved more than that.

He shook his head at her with a grin on her face. "Okay then, why not. If you don't mind the company we can both hop down and poke your little friend with a stick." He joked.

"I think I'll hold off on the stick," she replied with a grin, "but I can't think of anyone with whom I'd rather go exploring." She held out her hand to him. "But only if you promise to be careful."

He laughed and took her hand, squeezing it lightly. "I feel like I have had this conversation with you before."

"Probably," she said, chuckling. "And you probably will again -- but I'm doing better!"

Together they walked down to the opening in the cave wall. Sam looked outside for a moment, then she looked at the tunnel that continued down into the rock. "I think I want to see what's down there," she informed Damon.

Damon shook his head as he grinned at her. "You and your damn caves. Of course you would want to go THAT way."

"Yea..." she said wryly. "I find some of the best stuff in caves." She squeezed his hand. "But you'll be with me and we won't do anything too dangerous."

She led him down the twisting tunnel, one hand holding his, the other holding a light. The passage finally ended in a large, dark, underground lake.

Sam looked at the water, wondering how big the lake was. For a moment she thought about stripping down to her underwear and swimming. Then she glanced at Damon and changed her mind. "What do you think?"

He smiled. "I think I don't need to be a telepath to know what's running through your head." He gave her hand a quick squeeze and walked down to the waters edge. He took a knee at the bank and ran his hand through the water. "Certainly is nice. Anything in there?" He asked as he looked to the tricorder sitting on her hip,

"Let's see," she said, pulling out the tricorder. "I wouldn't want to encounter anymore hungry fish." She began to scan the water, then stopped, her eyes widening. "There's definitely something in the water. The far side. I think there's an opening over there."

Damon looked over in the direction she was pointing. Access was going to be a bit difficult, but it looked like a ridge of rock stretched out the whole way. If he was careful he thought it would be able for someone to shuffle over for a better look.

"How big is it?" He said as he made his way over to the start of the rock ridge.

"A good seven meters long," Sam replied. She moved out onto a rock to see if she could get a visual on the creature. The tricorder was showing some interesting readings, but it wasn't the same as an actual visual of the creature.

She looked at Damon, her eyes sparking. "I would never have expected it to be in both the sand and the water. That's incredible."

"If there is one thing I have learned it's to never underestimate the local wildlife." He said remembering the last planet's encounter.

He stood at the edge of the ridge and surveyed it once more before starting across. He tested it with his foot, finding it surprisingly slick. It wasn't enough to deter him, however, from putting his whole weight on it. With a quick hop from the ground, he began shuffling over to the other side of the pool.

Sam watched him for a moment, surprised to see him heading across the rocks. Then, not wanting to be heft behind, she followed him. "You're right. We have been surprised by the wildlife lately, haven't we?" She wished she'd worn her deck shoes, but she'd never expected to be climbing across damp and slippery rocks. Not on a desert planet.

The trip across was slow as footing was never sure, more than once Damon could feel himself sliding towards the pool. He was starting to get a little nervous about his choice to take this path only to get a better look at the eel. ~I hope this is worth it~ he thought as he again had to brace himself against the wall behind him for support. "We have no reason to believe these creatures are hostile, right?" He asked as the notion of falling into the pool by accident was no longer a distant possibility.

"Right. They haven't attacked us yet. They seemed to take offense at the firefly, but not at us," Sam assured him. "But we don't have to keep going, either. We can wait here and see what we can." She was perfectly content to wait there and see if the creature came farther into the pool -- as long as she could have a look at it, she was content.

He looked at the path before him and it only looked like it was going to be more difficult to travel. Still, he wanted to get the creatures attention, possibly get it to move to a place where Sam could get a good look at it. "Well." he said as he bent down and retrieved a loose rock "Let's see if we can wake it up." And that he threw the rock across the pool in the direction he thought it may be situated.

The rock splashed lightly in the water and sank below the surface. At first nothing happened, but after a moment Damon could see something below its surface suddenly start moving towards him. As there wasn't much light in the cave the creature looked like a dark mass that swam just below the surface.

(To be continued...)

Commander Samantha York
Commanding Officer
USS Orion

Marine Captain Damon Raine
Marine CO
USS Orion

Lieutenant Commander John Sheridan
Executive Officer
USS Orion

Lieutenant Kaj MIkkola
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Orion

Staff Sergeant Allan Riley (NPC)
Marine Squad Leader
USS Orion

 

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